


A Breeze

by johneggmcmuffin



Category: Homestuck
Genre: (that's later though), Blood, Character Death, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:10:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johneggmcmuffin/pseuds/johneggmcmuffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sollux Captor is quite the normal high school student, if you exclude his heterochromia, obsession with duality, and his family life. With a father who's too busy to ask about his day, and a brother who is stuck with the mind of a 10-year-old, Sollux finds it sometimes difficult to just get through one day. He grew to not care much about anything. Except for his girlfriend, however. Aradia Megido is Sollux's whole world. She's there when he needs someone to lean on, and is willing to listen to Sollux whenever his mood gets the best of him. Sollux knows that he'll be by her side forever, and that Aradia will do the same.<br/>Or will she?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A Breeze

(in which ana writes a humanstuck au fic yeah)

i hope you guys like it!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

            It started out as just a blizzard. Snow fell, and piled up. Gusts of wind blasted the neighborhood, making walking during the storm a frozen hell. Driveways, streets, and sidewalks were all covered in the wet, soft snow. It was a good thing that the local schools decided to cancel their classes. That way, they would avoid any _more_ complaints from the guardians of students. So everybody who attended the schools, kids and teenagers alike, were told to stay home.

            And for Sollux Captor, he couldn’t decide whether that was a good or bad thing. In a way, his Trigonometry  classes had been stressing him out lately. The mountains of homework piled on his desk took him hours to complete. Therefore he supposed that this short break, even if it was only for a day or two, could be taken as a good thing.

            But then again, he wanted something to keep himself occupied. Just lying around doing nothing could get lonely. And no matter how hard he’d try, Sollux’s mind somehow figured a way to slither bad thoughts into his mind. It could be something idiotic that happened yesterday, or it could date back to something that happened 6 years ago.

            Sollux reached over to the window, and used the sleeve of his turtleneck to wipe up a spot on his window. He peered through the now clear area and viewed the street below.

            “This shit’s all over the place.” He sighed as he scanned the neighboring property. His second floor room provided the perfect view. It was a winter wonderland, as some would call it. Icicles formed right near the windows. The snow buried cars, sidewalks, and driveways. Every roof was covered in snow.

            Last night, while Sollux lay in bed, he wondered about whether or not the pile of his snow on _his_ roof would collapse. Definitely would take some time to clean up. Thankfully, it hadn’t happened. Not yet, at least.

            Sollux’s phone suddenly buzzed, snapping him out of his short daze. Finally. He’d been waiting forever.

Ok, so it had only been an hour since she texted him back, but still.

            He walked over to his desk, and snatched his phone off of it. He opened up the Pesterchum app. Of course, people could just text, but the ever-so popular program was what all his friends used, and what else was he to do? Plus, it saved money, and yadda yadda. You get the drill.

            The message was from Aradia Megido, Sollux’s girlfriend.

apocalypseArisen [AA] began pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 11:27.  
  
AA: ah s0rry f0r taking s0 l0ng  
TA: what took you then  
AA: damara was giving me a hard time ab0ut rufi0h again  
TA: oh really  
AA: yeah  
AA: y0u arent mad right  
TA: no iit2 fiine ju2t tell her two back off  
AA: y0u kn0w its n0t that easy  
TA: have you even triied  
AA: well n0  
TA: aradiia come on  
AA: fine

            Sollux didn’t know what to say next. Aradia was usually upset when it came to talking with her sister. Pretty much everyone else was, too. Three years ago, Damara had a breakdown, and was stuck in the hospital for days. Those times were tough both on her, and Aradia. No one else knew why it happened; just that Meenah Peixes started something apparently. Ever since then, however, her personality almost completely changed. No one understood Damara these days, except for Rufioh. Even then, he didn’t know too much Japanese himself. Good thing he was taking classes in school.

            Sollux’s phone buzzed in his hand. Whoops.

AA: are y0u still there s0llux   
TA: yeah yeah iim riight here

            A few moments passed without a reply, and Sollux began to wonder what else to mention. Maybe he should ask her about her recently earned driver’s license. He’s been pretty jealous because of that, to be honest. He wouldn’t be able to apply for a permit for at least another couple of months.

TA: 2o you pa22ed your driiver2 te2t riight   
AA: yes im really excited ab0ut it   
TA: doe2 thii2 mean you could drop me off at 2chool   
AA: l0l yes

            Sollux chuckled to himself. He’d seen Aradia’s car a week earlier. It was a hand-me-down from her grandfather, an old clunker. It was a rusty red, and spit out thick black fumes from the back. Most of their friends thought the car was lame, including Sollux, admittedly. But Aradia loved it.

AA: hey s0llux  
TA: yeah what  
AA: d0 y0u think i c0uld c0me 0ver  
TA: 2ure  
TA: iit wa2nt liike ii wa2 doiing anythiing iin the fiir2t place  
AA: great ill c0me right 0ver  
TA: 2weet  
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 11:52.

            Now that Aradia was heading to his house, Sollux felt that it was about time he did some cleaning up. His room wasn’t _that_ messy, but he was sure that Aradia would notice the papers scattered on his desk, as well as the pile of clothes lying on his floor.

            He put his phone down on his desk once again, and began to group the papers into neat piles. Homework went into one pile, notes back into his binder. Computer program blueprints were hidden in the small shelf right above Sollux’s desk.

            Sollux pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose, as he observed the rest of his room. He walked over to the pile of clothes on the floor, and proceeding to picking them up. In about 5 minutes, they were dumped into the laundry hamper. He made sure that the socks weren’t left behind. Bits of ripped packaging were always scattered somewhere, from Sollux separating black socks from white socks, and pairing them together. He always wore different colored socks.

            Everyone would say that he had an obsession with duality. But to Sollux, it was a lifestyle. It even affected the way he typed. (And sometimes his quirk made it onto his schoolwork, leading to his teachers to hand them back to him with frustration.)

            And much to his embarrassment, Sollux’s eyes were even heterochromatic. His left eye was blue, the right one green. Sometimes he’d wish he had some sort of shades to cover them up, so that he wouldn’t be bothered about his eyes so much.

            Sollux took one last glance at his room; making sure things were, at the very least, decent. He made his bed earlier that morning, as a result to his boredom.

            He sighed once, before exiting his room, and closing the door behind him. Don’t want anyone sneaking up there. He walked down the short hallway, eying his father’s room just a few feet away. Sollux had never entered it before. Mituna has though, many times.

            A loud burst of laughter rang from downstairs. Sollux quickly stepped down on the staircase, and walked down it, being careful not to trip.

            “Mituna, can you shut up?” Sollux shouted, finally stepping into the living room to find his older brother playing video games on the couch.

            “You could have just stayed in your room, stupid.” Mituna shouted.

            “Can you at least quiet down?” Sollux crossed his arms impatiently.

            “No.”

            “Yes, you could.”

            “No.”

            “ _Yes.”_

“No.”

            Sollux refused to let the bickering go any further, and proceeded to standing in front of the TV screen on which Mituna was playing his game.

            “What the fuck!” Mituna shouted. He didn’t bother pausing the game, and kicked Sollux from where he was sitting on the floor.

            Sollux swore as he was shoved onto the floor.

            “Damn it!”

            “You had it coming!” Mituna laughed loudly.

            Sollux grumbled a bit, before picking himself up, and walking away from Mituna. He decided to stand by the door until Aradia came in.

 

            Five minutes later, Sollux was seated at the kitchen table snacking on Honey Comb cereal.

            The doorbell rang, and he stood up from his seat. It was most definitely her.

            He began walking towards the door once again, but Mituna sprang up from his seat in front of the TV, and shot right in front of him.

            “Welcome to the Captor’s house!” Mituna swung the door open, and spoke the words rapidly. Once he saw who was standing outside, however, his shoulders slumped.

            “Oh, it’s you- AK!” The older Captor shouted before getting elbowed by Sollux.

            Aradia smiled as she entered the house. “Hey Mituna!” She said with a single wave of her hand.

            Mituna grumbled, and pulled his headphones over his ears, and turned back to his game.

            “Sorry about that. You know how he is.” Sollux glanced at Mituna quickly.

            “Yeah, I know. Hey, he’s been using that phrase often…” Aradia spoke slowly and carefully.

            “Yeah, our dad told both of us to say that whenever we open the door or answer the phone. And all it’s because one time Mituna let in a hitch hiker, and we both got in a shit ton of trouble after he tried to steal a tank of gasoline.”

            “And when was that?” Aradia covered her mouth, doing a poor job of hiding her giggles.

            “2 weeks ago, when our dad went on that business trip.”

            “Is he here?” Aradia peered behind Sollux.

            “Nope.” Sollux sighed. “Another business trip.”

            “Oh, I see.” Aradia nodded awkwardly, smile fading away. “Does anyone come over to watch over you two?”

Sollux knew that by “you two”, she meant Mituna. People always referred to him like that. It was pretty much the only way to not come off as rude. And Sollux understood that. Ever since the car accident, Mituna wasn’t the same. People never mentioned his condition in front of the Captors.

            “Sollux?” Aradia waved her hand in front of his eyes, and Sollux looked at her face again.

            “Sorry. And yeah, Kurloz and Latula come over sometimes.”

            “Well, that’s good!” Aradia smiled once again.

            “Yeah…” Sollux’s voice softened to a whisper as he nodded slowly.

Aradia rubbed her hands, and Sollux knew he was losing her interest.

            “Hey, let’s just go upstairs.” Sollux suggested.

At this, Aradia grinned again. “Actually, I was thinking we go outside for a bit!”

“AA, _no._ It’s like 15 degrees below zero.”

Aradia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. It’s _9_ degrees, dummy!” Aradia playfully punched Sollux’s arm.

“Alright then.” Sollux sighed, and walked back up the flight of stairs, and into his bedroom once again to retrieve his coat.

Back in his room, Sollux swung open the door of his closet, and slipped on the striped coat.

After managing to get his hat, scarf, and mittens, Sollux stepped onto the landing of the living room.

“Yo, Mituna, I’m heading out for a while.” Sollux called out, not sure whether or not Mituna could hear him from his headphones.

“Whatever.” Mituna shouted back dismissively.

Sollux sighed once more, and opened his front door. He stepped outside of his house, ice crunching beneath his feet. The wind bit his nose, which was exposed to the cold. He narrowed his eyes, and looked out at the scene in front of him. A professionally dug road starting from the front steps lead all the way along the sidewalk.

“Aradia!” Sollux shouted. His breath became visible in the air for a second, then quickly disappeared.

Sollux stepped down his front steps, careful not to slip on any ice. He shivered in the cold.

“Aradi-GAH!”

A snowball was flung at Sollux, making its impact right on his face. The snow stung his face, and his nose felt numb. He tried to keep himself from swaying back and forth, and somehow found the railing of his house.

“Sollux!” Aradia’s voice shouted from a distance.

Sollux tried to wipe the snow covering his face, hearing footsteps pound on the frozen grass.

“Sollux, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think that would hit you so hard!” A pair of cold hands touched Sollux’s cheeks.

 “Well, at least you’re not bleeding.” Aradia exhaled a breath of relief.

“Nah, Aradia, it’s fine.” Sollux lifted her hands off of his face. “What we need to worry about is this. Your hands. You might get sick.”

“Sollux, that doesn’t happen to me anymore!”

“Well, yeah. But it could still happen. You don’t have the strongest immune system.” Sollux said, still holding Aradia’s hands.

Aradia laughed, and ducked down suddenly, making Sollux release his grip.

“Aradia, what are you doing-“

Another snowball was flung towards him, and it hit Sollux’s sleeve.

“Two points for Megido!” Aradia jumped up and down, laughing at her lead.

“Don’t be too confident.” Sollux chuckled, and bent down to make his own snowball. He sprang up, and tossed it at Aradia. She quickly blocked it with her forearm.

“Bring it on!” Aradia ran onto the snow-covered lawn.

And with that challenge, Sollux ran after her, snowballs flying through the air and laughs resounding around the neighborhood. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sollux bickers with Karkat in English class, gets annoyed by two other classmates, and a surprising substitute teacher.

A Breeze: Chapter 2 

 

“You have the rest of this period to complete these exams.”  The teacher told her class. She stood in the front of the room, viewing her students.

“I hope you all have your #2 pencils with you.”

The class grumbled, some heads turning to the student sitting in the second row, second seat.

Equius Zahhak was well-prepared for the exam. To prove that point, a plastic cup containing a bunch of pencils was sitting on his desk. Equius ignored the staring, and instead looked intently at the first page of the test booklet.

Sollux rolled his eyes, and examined his own pencils. Two of them lay in the groove in his desk designed to hold them. English was never his favorite subject, yet he managed to achieve high grades in that class.

“Hey.”

Sollux picked up the pencil closest to the left of him, and examined it. “#2” was engraved into it.

“ _Hey_.”

He lifted his head up to see Karkat Vantas glaring at him. He was seated in the chair right in front of Sollux.

“May I help you?” Sollux smirked. He purposely ignored Karkat’s whispering just to mess with him a little.

“That joke was never funny.” Karkat rolled his eyes. 

“Well, to you, it isn’t. But to everyone else, yeah, it really is.”

“Alright, I get it. I’m pretty short for a 15-year-old. You guys pretend to not hear or see me, apparantly because I'm too short to be noticed. But is it really necessary to continually tease me for it?” Karkat kept his glare on Sollux.

“Just turn around.” Sollux pointed at the front of the classroom, where the teacher was still explaining the directions. “Don’t want to fail, do you?”

But Sollux knew better than to ask something of that sort. English was pretty much Karkat’s best subject. Now that he thought about it, Sollux knew Karkat’s love of romantic literature (he never bothered to hide his novels) probably sparked his interest in English.

“Alright, you may all begin your exams.” The teacher concluded her small lecture, and began to move her way between the rows of desks. “Keep your eyes on your own papers. If I catch you cheating, 20 points will be taken from your grade.”

Sollux rolled his eyes, wanting the teacher to just quiet down. He needed absolute quiet to concentrate on things. To his left, he heard someone quietly whisper to themselves, “Damn.”

Sollux looked back down at his paper, beginning to twirl his pencil between his fingers. It was a trick Mituna had shown him a few years back.

The first task was a simple one. Match the vocabulary word with its correct definition.

Trivial, posterity, flamboyant; the words went on.

A pencil snapped suddenly, breaking Sollux out of his concentration. He knew it was Equius, since he sometimes snapped his pencils during exams. Some of Sollux’s classmates turned to look at Equius grumble and pull a pencil out from that plastic cup of his.

Sollux continued to answer the questions, recording them on his answer sheet. He heard Karkat grumbling, his pencil most likely making numerous marks on his page.

Three more words to match up.

Candid- Honest and open

Reticent- Reluctant or unwilling

Litigious- Having to do with legal matters

The phone on the teacher’s desk rang suddenly. The entire class perked their heads up, turning to the desk at the back of the room. Their teacher gave them stern looks, and told them to go back to their exams. Sollux and many others turned back around. Some students, however, didn’t move at all, and kept staring at the teacher with curiosity.

“Yes, I understand.”

Sollux could hear the teacher’s conversation from his seat all the way in the back of his row.

“But how can that happen? I left her with the nurses this morning!”

Sollux exhaled deeply. His teacher could at least pipe down.

“I’ll be there right away!”

The receiver was quickly slammed down, and the teacher stood up from her chair. At this, everyone’s heads lifted up, excluding Sollux.

Sounds of shuffling papers kept Sollux attuned to the situation as he heard books being shoved into a bag. The teacher quickly gathered her belongings, and headed to the door. From the corner of his eye, Sollux saw her take her keys from her pocket.

“Class, I apologize. A substitute will be arriving very soon.” And without another word, she swung the door open, and left the room. Now the students of the class were left to wait.

“What the hell was that all about?” Karkat asked, turning around in his chair to face Sollux.

“Why do you expect me to know?” Sollux replied, looking at his pencil. It could use a sharpening. The point was quite dull, despite only answering a couple of questions. “You should just go back to your test.”

“Do you guys think anything bad happened?” A different voice asked in the seat to the left of Karkat.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Nepeta.” Karkat rolled his eyes, turning his attention to his next-door neighbor.

“But don’t you sense something  _purr_ ious about the way she responded to the phone call?” Nepeta persisted. “It was aw _fur_ lly weird for her to just leave like that!”

“Knock it off with the cat puns!” Karkat shouted. He froze as the class quieted down from their soft chattering.

Immediately the classroom broke into loud conversation, laughs and shouts beginning to sound out.

Sollux got up from his chair, and began to walk over to the hand-powered pencil sharpener at the opposite end of the room. He looked over to where Karkat and Nepeta were chatting. (Though it was actually Karkat shouting and Nepeta laughing at him.) To the right of Nepeta was Equius, who was eyeing the two.

Sollux stuck the pencil into the sharpener, and turned the small crank around and around. He pulled the pencil out, inspected it, and gazed at his friends again. Sollux didn’t really want to speak to Equius once he started to confront Karkat. It was annoying, the amount of times he’d try to turn Nepeta away from her friends. But Sollux knew that it was sort of reasonable.

He made his way back to his desk, and sat down.

“No.” Karkat crossed his arms.

“No, what?”

“Not you. I’m talking to Nepeta.”

“Karkat’s going to watch Buttercup for me this weekend!” Nepeta replied. “My mom, Meulin, and I are going to visit her doctor!”

“I have things to do this weekend. Many things.” Karkat scoffed.

“No, you don’t.” Sollux laughed. “You just watch T.V. and cry over movies.”

Karkat tapped his desk in frustration. “The answer to a question I never fucking asked.”

“Woah, dude.” Sollux raised his hands slightly. “I’m just telling the truth.”

“Well, thanks Sollux!” Nepeta grinned at him and Karkat. “Now I know you’ll be able to take care of him!”

“Don’t you have, like, 10 cats?” Karkat narrowed his eyes at Nepeta.

Nepeta glanced around a bit. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” She giggled nervously.

“I’ve seen you take your cats out at night! They all start meowing, scurrying around that gigantic yard of yours. They’re the reason I find it hard to sleep at night.” Karkat argued.

“Well, Buttercup is the one that needs to be looked after the most!” Nepeta pouted. “The others can manage being alone for the weekend by themselves! You just need to give them their bowls of food 3 times a day!”

“Just bring the cats  _with_  you for fuck’s sake.” Karkat groaned. He obviously wanted the weekend to himself. Now he was stuck watching over a bunch of felines.

The thought made Sollux want to chuckle, and he did, seeing that it would get Karkat even more upset.

“Shut up!”

“Excuse me.” Equius turned towards the small group. “Is there a reason why Nepeta’s request would trigger such a response like that?” He asked, beginning to stare down at Karkat.

“No. I was talking to Sollux.” Karkat muttered. “Now,  _I_ request that you turn around Zahhak.”

“A _hem_.”

The class didn’t hear the quiet voice at first, so they continued to chatter.

Nepeta had turned to Equius, and guided him away from arguing with Karkat. Karkat, meanwhile, began to vent about how 10 cats in one home is too many, and how that amount shouldn’t even be legal.

“Excuse me.” The young man standing in front of the whiteboard spoke with a stronger tone.

“Do you think she and her sister all share the 10 cats, or maybe they each have 10?” Karkat asked Sollux, contemplating his situation.

“I’m pretty sure they all share the cats.” Sollux said.

Before Karkat could reply, however, a loud shrill rang across the room.

Nepeta shrieked, while Sollux covered his ears in annoyance. Every student finally silenced, and all looked at the young man standing in front of the room. Sollux hadn’t even noticed that he stepped into the classroom.

Sollux could see Karkat’s face turning a bit pale. “Oh god.”

Sollux peered over Karkat’s head, and saw the familiar whistle hanging down the man’s neck.

“Is  _Kankri_  the substitute teacher?” Sollux wondered out loud.

“Why, yes, indeed. It so happens that I am. But I prefer that you call me Mr. Vantas from now on. ” Kankri answered the question, smiling slightly at the class.

“Why this?” Karkat laid his head on the desk and groaned. “Why  _this_?”

Sollux awkwardly patted Karkat’s head. “It’s ok, my friend. I’m sure 30 more minutes with your older brother isn’t going to kill you. After all, aren’t you used to this?”

“Mr. Captor, I should advise you to stop talking now.”

Sollux stopped comforting Karkat to stare up at Kankri.

“Now, seeing that I have everyone’s attention. I must tell you why I am here. Your teacher, Ms. Labooty-“

A few kids snickered when they heard Kankri mispronounce their teacher’s name.

Kankri lifted an eyebrow, but continued on. “Your teacher has left for an undetermined time period because of a family emergency. Because of these events, I was quickly given the opportunity to substitute for the time being.” Kankri cleared his throat. “Now, before I begin the class, there are some rules that should be followed, though many of them have been repeated to you many, many times before. The first rule would be the simple rule of not speaking unless you are collaborating with others on a group assignment, or called upon to answer any questions. Secondly, we should all keep in mind that our choice of words can potentially cause a person mild to extreme discomfort. Please be respectful of everyone’s boundaries and triggers.”

“We have a test to complete here.” Equius interrupted Kankri during his short speech. Kankri crossed his arms and faced him.

“Oh, yes. I suppose your schoolwork obviously surpasses the importance of the principles in an educational setting that was created to provide students with sources of growth and learning.” Kankri moved away from the board, and took his seat on the teacher’s swivel chair. He set down his things, and removed his coat.

“Go back to completing your exams, I suppose.” Kankri huffed, trying to remain calm despite the fact that he was just cut off.

Sollux muttered, “Thank you,” to no one in particular. But before he continued to the next section of the test, he poked Karkat’s back with the eraser of his pencil.

“ _What?_ ” Karkat whispered harshly.

“I take back what I said about your brother before.” Sollux cupped one side of his mouth. He hoped that Kankri didn’t  hear him. “He’s even more boring as a teacher.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

Sollux sighed, and began to read the selection chosen for the test. It was a short excerpt from a long known tale.

“Interesting.” Sollux heard Kankri say from behind him. He turned around slightly to peek at him, and saw Kankri reading the teacher’s edition of the test. Kankri lifted a pencil, and took out what seemed to look like a planner.

And all Sollux could think was that surely Kankri was preparing a lesson for this soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank god no pesterlogs to edit.  
> anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter. things will start moving really soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sollux's hand is very sweaty while trying to hold Aradia's hand, and the other nerds come in.

A Breeze: Chapter 3

    It was soon time to head down to the cafeteria for hopefully nonradioactive food and awkward conversations. Sollux was thankful for Aradia’s company, and squeezed her hand as they headed to the cafeteria doors. Aradia held his hand for a few moments. Sollux could feel himself relax a little, and even smile a bit. Things have already been hectic around the school because of the blizzard. Now that Kankri Vantas returned to his former high school, however, the hallways of the school buzzed with chatter and rumors. 

    Sollux had already heard the story of when Kankri was asked to sit back down after giving a lengthy speech during his graduation. Karkat and himself were there to witness the event, when they were still in elementary school.

    Aradia let go of his hand, and slyly began to wipe her palm on her skirt. As she lifted her hand, Sollux could see that the fabric was slightly wet.

    “Did you have a test in English?” Aradia inquired, pushing the doors of the cafeteria open. She made her way inside, as Sollux rubbed the back of his neck. Sweat.

    “Yep.” He answered. Sollux was pretty sure that Aradia knew what had happened two class periods ago, but didn’t want to say anything of it until she mentioned it herself. “You know, they say that genius is one percent inspiration, and ninty-nine percent perspiration.” Sollux chuckled to himself. He quickly located the table Aradia was leading him to, and saw Karkat already seated on one of the benches.

     Aradia laughed, then stopped suddenly. “I don’t mind.” She remarked.

     “What?”

     “You can tell me about what happened in your class. I didn’t hear yet!” She explained.

      Sollux kept following Aradia, and as she slid down onto her usual spot on the table bench, he wondered how she took the words right from his thoughts. He sat down as well, shrugging off the weird occurrence as something coincidental.

     “If you’re looking for someone to ask about that, I think Karkat would be the best person to go to.” Sollux smirked.

     Upon hearing this, Karkat groaned, and reluctantly directed his gaze from the other lunch tables to where Sollux was sitting on the opposite side of him.

     “I really don’t feel like discussing what happened.” Karkat grumbled. He laid his head down on the table.

     “Well, then? What happened?” Aradia asked with extreme curiousity. She laid her eyes on Sollux, awaiting a response.

     “So basically, Kankri came in to substitute for ‘Ms. Labooty’, and was interrupted from his speech.” Sollux leaned on his elbow on the table.

      Aradia covered her mouth. “No way!” She turned to Karkat. “I thought Kankri was in college? What’s he doing here as a substitute?”

      “He's on his winter break.” Karkat explained with a muffled voice. "And, because of the stupid blizzard, it will probably be a week or more added to his vacation."

      “Oh, no.” Aradia replied. She didn’t have English class with Karkat and Sollux, but the idea of having Kankri as a teacher didn’t seem pleasant. She couldn’t think of much to help lighten the situation.

      “The guy’s nuts, AA.” Sollux chuckled, and shook his head. “We’re going to die from bleeding ears by tomorrow.”

      “You guys are lucky Nepeta isn’t around to hear that.” A girl bumped into Sollux with her cane, and slid onto the seat next to him. “She gets her panties in a twist about that sort of talk.”

      “Isn't she ‘The Pouncelor’ to you?” Karkat lifted his head a bit to gaze at Terezi Pyrope. "That's what I've heard you call her." 

      “She  _was_.” Terezi frowned at Karkat. “But those days are over now. Over for me, at least.” She used her hand to reach around for her bag, and quickly pulled out a thick, black book. It made a loud  _thump_ as she dropped it onto the table.

      “How can you lug that giant book around so easily?” Karkat asked, bringing his head up from the table completely.

      “Nothing can be too heavy for the scales of justice!” Terezi bellowed triumphantly, shaking a fist in the air.

      “You’re going to burst my eardrum before Kankri does.” Sollux rubbed the side of his head.

      Terezi only laughed, and extended her arm to give Sollux a friendly punch in the arm. She missed by a few inches, however, and immediately fell mute. The table stared awkwardly for a moment, before Karkat stood up.

      “Let’s just get lunch.” He told the rest of the table, walking to the other side, and waiting beside Terezi.

      “Sure.” Terezi muttered softly, before getting up from her seat. It was very rare to hear Terezi speak so quietly. She was clearly embarrassed from her small fumble. As if hanging onto a lifeline, Terezi planted a hand onto Karkat’s shoulder, and grabbed her cane with her.

      “You can walk fine with just my help.” Karkat urged her along.

      Sollux stood up as well, when he saw Karkat and Terezi walking away from their table. “We should go get some lunch, too.”

      But before he could take a step, Aradia placed her hand on his arm. She was reaching over the table, and gently pushed down on Sollux’s shoulder. He sat down once again.

      “What’s up?” He asked with a bit of concern.

      “I was waiting for them to leave. I have something to discuss with you about.” Aradia whispered.

      “Alright…what do you need to say?” Sollux said softly as well.

      “Vriska is getting closer to making things really bad.”

      “Wait. Are you two actually still on this whole competition thing?”

      “Yes. I didn’t tell you at first because I didn’t want to frighten you. But this time, it’s getting serious. Just yesterday I found a bag full of mildly poisonous spiders in my mailbox.” Aradia kept her voice low.

      “But they’re just spiders.” Sollux shrugged off Aradia’s odd behavior.

      “No.” Aradia looked at Sollux with a grim face. “It wasn’t just the spiders. There was a note taped to it.” She slipped a hand into her pocket, and pulled out a tiny piece of paper.

      “You’re fucking 8ait, princess. Watch where you pl8ce those tires.” She read it with concentration.

      Sollux shrugged the warning off. “Vriska’s just been trying to manipulate you, or some shit like that.” He pointed to the cafeteria doors. “Come on, let’s get lunch.”

      Aradia pursed her lips, knowing that Sollux wouldn’t listen to this talk for any longer. “Alright.” She said after a few moments.

      The two exited the loud and crowded area, and headed to the line quickly forming right outside of the cafeteria. Aradia stepped in front of Sollux, and slipped behind a couple of students at the end of the line. Sollux slipped behind her, and they were both silent for a few moments. Sollux gazed at Aradia for a couple of minutes, watching her eyebrows furrow in frustration. It was probably the wrong decision to just cut off Aradia from her talk. But to be honest, the whole competing thing between Aradia and Vriska had grown tiring to watch. Terezi used to be involved, and was a part of Team Scourge. In elementary school, both Terezi and Vriska ruled the playground, not allowing any of the students slide down the giant swirly one. In middle school, their tactics stepped up, with shouts of, “Team Scourge!” ringing throughout the hallways. Those two were troublemakers, getting sent to the principal’s office at least once a week.

      And how did Sollux know all of this? Aradia told him, of course. Behind the school yards, she always came to tell him, before showing off a broken wrist Terezi had given her the week before.

      It was the familiar squeaking and screeching of wheels on the slick school floors that brought Sollux out of his thought bubble. Aradia snapped out of hers, too, as they both turned to see who was coming down the hall.

      Tavros Nitram came towards the line, stopping when he saw Aradia and Sollux on the lunchline.

      “Hey guys.” Tavros gave a friendly smile.

      Sollux gave a small wave, while Aradia returned the smile, and said hello.

      “So, what’s up?” Tavros started twisted his backpack strap a bit nervously.

      “Just waiting. For lunch.” Sollux said, rolling his eyes at the obvious. Aradia put her hand on Sollux’s forearm, giving him a stern look.

      “Do you think you could, um, grab me a milk carton from the line?” Tavros pretended that he hadn’t caught the annoyance in Sollux’s voice.

      Aradia snapped her head towards Tavros, and narrowed her eyes a tiny bit. “I thought you brought your lunch to school, Tavros.”

      At this, Tavros began glancing from side to side. “Yeah, I do. I just lost it on the bus this morning.” He gave a weak smile.

      Aradia shook her head, and sighed. “It was Vriska, wasn’t it?”

      Tavros opened his mouth to argue, but shut it as he saw Aradia’s expression. He resorted to nodding in response. Aradia sighed once again.

      “You have to let Vriska know that you’re not going to take her bullying anymore.” Aradia placed both hands on her hips. “Stand up to her!”

      Tavros furrowed his eyebrows, looking genuinely upset, for once. “I would, but it doesn’t seem I can do that with my, um, o-own two legs.”  He stammered on a word or two, and quickly wheeled himself away from sight of Aradia and Sollux.

      “You should have used a better choice of words.” Sollux whispered. He glanced at the moving lunch line, and turned Aradia back around so that they could move ahead.

      For the time that took them to grab their trays and pluck the food onto the trays, Sollux and Aradia were silent. As Aradia paid for her lunch, Sollux gazed for a moment at her hand. Her hand punched in her ID number next to the cashier, but Sollux was staring at the burgundy-red ring resting on Aradia’s left ring finger. All she’d told him about it was that her mother saved a lot of money to have the ring customized for her, as well as one for Damara.

      Sollux was urged to ask Aradia about the ring, but thought that it would be better to bring it up later. He saw Aradia leave the cashier, and Sollux moved up. He came into eye contact with the person working at the cashier, but didn’t keep it for long. He paid for his ham sandwich, and two cartons of milk- one for Tavros, since he’d ask him for it before. The small machine taking in Sollux’s ID number beeped, and the cashier gave a curt nod. Signaled to go ahead, Sollux lifted his tray, and walked back into the lunchroom.

      It was a few minutes after Sollux arrived at the table with his lunch when a tall, lanky figure appeared. Everyone seated at the table looked up. Sollux lifted his own head to view the face of Gamzee Makara. His face was painted as usual, with the patterns associated with usual Juggalos. Gamzee easily slipped through the tiny space between the window and the table. He slid into the seat right next to the window, squeezing Karkat between himself and Aradia.

     “Hey there, little polar bear.” Gamzee greeted Karkat with a ruffle of his stark white hair.

     Karkat shoved his hand away, angrily bringing the hoodie of the sweater he was wearing over his head. “Can you fucking not? That nickname gives me cancer every time I hear it come out your mouth.”

     Gamzee, in response, just chuckled. “Can’t a brother give another brother a loving nickname?”

     “No.” Karkat huffed. “No, you cannot.”

     “Well, you look like a cute, tiny polar bear.” Gamzee repeated, as Terezi laughed at the joke. Karkat’s face turned into a scowl, as his face slowly turned red.

     Gamzee turned away from Karkat, and gave fist bump to Terezi. Much to her content, Terezi didn’t miss this time, and held a triumphant grin.

     Sollux removed his attention from those two, and instead looked around the table. The people seated there were what he considered as friends- though some he wouldn’t want to be around with. But still, they had all clung together, like paperclips to a magnet.

     Tavros quickly leaned over Sollux’s tray, and grabbed the milk carton he was promised. Sollux didn’t say anything, for at the moment, he was eyeing Vriska. She was doing her daily rounds of “hobbing,” as she called it. It was the word she used for gathering up objects to trade for her underground trading business. It was quite successful, and Vriska took no caution to bragging about it.

     “Hello, everyone.” Vriska had walked up to the table where Sollux and his companions were seated at. “And hello, Aradia.”

     Sollux could almost feel the heat rising up between the rivals as Aradia narrowed her eyes at Vriska.

     “Vriska, I’ve told you before.” Aradia spoke calmly, folding her hands in front of her. “You’re not allowed to sit at this table for the time being.”

     Vriska rolled her eyes, and sighed with annoyance. “Who said I was going to sit here? I have work to attend to. Besides, you can’t stop me from talking to the people at this table. It’s their own decision.” As she laid her eyes on Tavros, Vriska’s voice suddenly turned sugary-sweet. “Looking cute today, Tavros.” She smiled.

     Tavros gave a forced smile, and waved weakly at Vriska.

     Vriska looked at everyone else at the table, since they had all ceased talking once she approached. “Anyone have something to offer?” She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

     Sollux shook his head. Gamzee, however, handed Vriska a small ball. On it was the logo of the Insane Clown Posse. Vriska grabbed it with the tips of her fingers, in slight disgust.

     “Thank you for your generous donation.” Vriska said her standard response. She was obviously disappointed by the object she’d been given, but business is business. You take what you can get. A second later she stood with her back completely straightened, and placed her prize-winning grin on again. “You know, the very best of the objects you give to trade gets evaluated by actual, near royalty.”

     Aradia shook her head, and rolled her eyes.

     “And how can you prove this?” Sollux asked. There was no way Vriska had connections to royalty. She was wealthier than most, sure, but so was Equius. Not that it had to do with anything much.

     Vriska laughed, as if she were waiting for someone to ask her this question. She quickly grabbed a notebook from her bag, and opened it to a random page. From there, she ripped a page out, and not to Sollux’s surprise, there were no jagged edges.

     “If you don’t believe me,” Vriska grinned as she scribbled something onto the torn-out paper. “Then ask her. She’ll testify for me; even say that I’m the best in the business.”

     “More like only one in the business.” Aradia muttered under her breath. Vriska pretended not to notice, though her smile turned a little more forced. She shoved the paper towards Sollux as soon as she was finished writing, and briskly walked away towards someplace else.

     Sollux peered down at the torn paper. On it was a name. And the format of this name could only mean it was a Pesterchum handle. Aradia leaned over from where she was seated next to Sollux now, and read the name in hushed tones.

     “fuschiaRuler”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this is really short gomen everyone!


	4. Chapter 4

            Sollux stared down at a short stack of papers with annoyance. He scanned the first two lines, and mentally groaned. On the first page of the packet was an excerpt from Shakesphere’s famous play,  _Romeo and Juliet_. Sollux held his head on his desk, muttering to himself. He turned his body to take a glimpse at the clock in the back of the room. There was still a half hour left until English ended. Sollux heard some scratches in front of him, and turned back around.

            “Stop being so antsy.” Sollux told Karkat. Karkat stopped shuffling his papers, and his shoulders dropped as he groaned.

            “How about you stop being so  _spitty_?” Karkat retorted, pronouncing ‘spitty’ as ‘thpitty’.

            Sollux glared at Karkat, making the latter of the two roll his eyes. “I didn’t have time to organize my things last night.” He said with less frustration.

            “And why was that?” Sollux smirked. He envisioned Karkat sitting in his shabby room, crying for his idolized, bland characters that stared in his beloved romantic comedies.

            Kankri cleared his throat in the front of the room, forcing both boys to shut their mouths.

            “Let’s begin reading, dear pupils.” Kankri began.

“Dear pupils.” Karkat mimicked with an overly nasal voice. As Karkat turned to the front of the room to face Kankri, Nepeta stretched out her arms in the seat beside him. She yawned sleepily, already bored with the lesson that lay ahead.

            Kankri’s eyes lifted from where they were scanning the packet towards Karkat. For a few moments, he stared straight at his younger brother, his face not showing what he was thinking. “Who would like to volunteer?” He asked the class, still keeping his stare. A few students raised their hands, but instead of calling on any of them, Kankri turned to Karkat instead.

            “Karkat, since you’re being quite the chatter mouth over there, why don’t you take a turn? I don’t mean to favor you over your fellow classmates, of course. Your recent progress report, however, says that you’re lacking participation in this class.” Some students snickered as Kankri said this, and he shushed them at once.

            Karkat sighed in response, and smoothed out the stapled edge of the packet. He kept his head down; so that no one could see his red eyes search the page. Karkat mumbled the first two lines of the excerpt. He looked up to see his brother’s crossed arms in dissatisfaction. “Please read that again. Unfortunately, the class wasn’t able to hear you clearly. Speak more loudly if you may.”

            The younger Vantas clenched the paper with anger, a scowl growing on his face. This time when he read, Karkat’s voice was obnoxiously loud, as usual. “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” He looked up at Kankri, eyes daring for him to criticize him anymore.

            “Thank you, Karkat. Your improvement is greatly appreciated.” Kankri said with a stiff nod. He then went on to choose a couple more students to continue reading the excerpt.

* * *

            “Thank god.” Sollux muttered under his breath. Kankri hadn’t chosen him to read at all.

            “You better be fucking thankful.” Karkat said back quietly, making Sollux snicker.

            As soon as the last student read, Kankri told the class to answer the set of questions on the next few pages. Sollux finished quickly, but not as fast as Karkat.

            “I bet you read this entire dumbshit play in your own free time, right?” Sollux whispered to Karkat.

            “So what if I did? Why do you care?” Karkat rolled his eyes, turned away from Sollux.

            “You never come out of your house nowadays, so you must be doing something.” Sollux chuckled to himself. Karkat turned around in his chair, and flipped the bird at Sollux before Kankri could notice.

            Karkat was silent for a few moments, running a pale hand through his hair. “I just don’t have time anymore. Too much shit to do.” He mumbled. He sounded upset, almost sad, even. And because of that, Sollux eased off, leaving Karkat alone for the rest of the period.

            He thought back to when he first met the fiery, and loud-mouthed boy he now called his best friend.

            It was a couple of weeks into the new school year, and as a 6th grader, Sollux remembered being lanky, still. Karkat was about the same height as he was now, which always made Sollux grin. He was younger than Sollux and the rest of his friends by about a year, being skipped a grade sometime in his old school. Karkat had just moved into the neighborhood, and refused to talk to anyone in his classes for a while. Rumors had spread throughout the school that he was teased mercilessly in elementary school, because of his prominent features. Some nicknames had followed Karkat to his new school, and Sollux still remembered Karkat being called, “snow boy” as they walked together in the halls of their school.

            At first, Sollux found no interest in getting to know Karkat. One day however, Sollux stopped in the middle of walking to his next class to see what was making so much commotion throughout the hallway. Karkat was there, swearing and thrusting his arms about. He tried to throw punches at the brawly kid who held him away from the ground, but missed miserably. The larger boy started getting annoyed with Karkat’s resistance, and tried to stuff Karkat inside his own locker. With extremely colorful language, Karkat refused to stop punching the air. Ans it was during all of this that Sollux stood there, simply staring. He turned his head both ways, and saw that most of the kids in the hall were speeding past, as if they couldn’t see what was happening at all. The kid attempting to stuff Karkat into his locker quickly realized that it would be impossible to do so. Instead, he dropped Karkat to the floor, and stalked away. Karkat’s bookbag was open, and his school supplies scattered across the floor.

            Since no one was watching, Sollux slowly walked over to Karkat, and began to help him pick up his belongings. Karkat glared at him, but he didn’t say a word to Sollux. The two gathered up papers and notebooks while trying their best to avoid having their hands stepped on by passing students.

            “If only you had actually succeeded in defending yourself.” Sollux let his smirk show as he held out a notebook for Karkat to take. Karkat snatched the book out of Sollux’s hand, and stuffed it into his bag. “Yeah, cause I could definitely do that. My height totally doesn’t fucking hinder me when it comes to situations such as these.” Karkat huffed. “But I think I handled this pretty well for once.”

            “I was kidding.” Sollux muttered. “Damn.”

            Karkat’s head perked up, and he studied Sollux’s face for a minute. “Don’t I have class with you?”

            “Like I said, if you were taller, than you’d be able to actually see my face.” Sollux kept smirking.

            Karkat rolled his eyes, and started to walk away from where the commotion began. Sollux stopped chuckling as Karkat passed him, and he took a few steps to catch up with him.

            “You’re going to walk with me now?” Karkat looked at Sollux with suspicion. “Is this what you guys do to mess with someone here?”

            Sollux sighed. “Dude, what’s wrong with me just walking alongside you? The hallway’s empty, and plus, we have class together. We’re just alternating steps between our right and left legs. It isn’t a fucking marriage proposal.”

            Karkat grumbled to himself, and Sollux felt content with his efforts of socializing for once. And with only those words between them, the two began their journey down the lonely hallway to Math class.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux and Aradia visit the park, and Sollux doesn't get a ride home.

           It was after school had finished when Aradia ran up to Sollux. He had been waiting near the doors of the school for her, so that she could give him a ride home. She was nearly bouncing with excitement, and Sollux laughed at her childlike energy. It amazed him, how Aradia could brighten his day with just a simple smile. Without a word, Aradia took Sollux’s hand in hers, and lead him away from the school. Sollux felt the need to tell Aradia that they were heading the wrong way; that she had a permit now, but for some reason, he didn’t. Their feet crunched over the black ice that had formed days ago. It was either horribly slushy, or hard as a rock. There was no in between.

           The two passed the creaky gates of the nearby park, Sollux trying to take in the scenery as quickly as possible. There was no wondering where Aradia would take him. Sometimes it was the hills that beckoned to be rolled down on, or other times it was the small lake there. Snow covered the park in a frozen, white blanket. Signs of sledding and footprints marked the ground, and Sollux spotted a bench that was luckily wiped, free of any snow. To his surprise, Aradia didn’t lead him to the hills or to the lake. Instead, she led Sollux to the bench. They both settled onto their seats. Sollux shivered from how cold his butt felt. (Oh, it was so cold.) He opened his mouth to complain, but Aradia held her index finger up to her lips, silencing Sollux completely. She slipped off the burgundy ring off of her ring finger, and held it up to face the cloudy sky.

           “I never told you anything much about this ring, right?” Aradia laughed. Despite the cloudiness, Sollux noticed a glimmer reflecting off the ring that made it hard not to stare. “I knew you wanted to learn about it though; yesterday, during lunch.”

           Sollux stiffened in his seat. “How did you know?” He asked, thinking that his staring may have given her that hint. Aradia grinned widely, and she leaned closer to Sollux. “I can read minds.” She whispered, their noses barely touching. Sollux’s eyes widened with great surprise. “Y-You can?” His breath turned to white, billowy wisps in front of him.

            Aradia started to giggle. She covered her mouth, but soon it was too late to cover up her laughter. She burst out laughing, and gripped onto the edges of the bench to keep from falling off. “I’m kidding!” She said in between laughs, punching Sollux in the arm jokingly. Sollux could only bring himself to chuckle awkwardly. As much as he loved Aradia, there were moments where she was nothing but spooky.

            “Are you sure?” Sollux asked cautiously.

            Aradia stopped laughing, her smile disappearing instantly. “I just have really good intuitions.” She let out a small giggle. “But anyway,” Aradia positioned herself properly, leaning against Sollux’s body. “I’ll tell you about my ring, alright?”

            “Sure.” Sollux shrugged.

            “It’s a pretty famous tale in my family.” Aradia began. She cleared her throat, and rubbed her hands together to create some warmth. “As you know, my mom used to work as a housemaid when she first moved here from China. It’s not a really favorable job to take up,” Aradia shrugged. “But you take what you can get. However, she was amazing at her job. She left dishes spotless, and beds were made as if they hadn’t been slept in before.” Aradia’s eyes lit up as she began to describe the incredible amount of effort her mother put into her work to Sollux.

            “Eventually, with enough money to travel back to China,” Aradia made a loop with her index finger. “She paid for two customized rings. One for Damara, and one for myself.”

            “And when did that all happen?” Sollux asked. He doesn’t remember Aradia’s mother taking any foreign trips recently.

            “Around the time Damara was 12…” Aradia tapped her chin with the same finger.  “She wanted to give us the rings when we were 13. Of course, when Damara received hers first, I got extremely jealous. But I soon got mine too!” She laughed. “Remember that party I had?”

            Sollux chuckled at the thought of that old memory. Aradia had invited pretty much everyone seated at their current lunchroom table, except for Vriska and Terezi, of course. Team Scourge was still at large, even though Aradia and Tavros had disbanded Team Charge. In fact, Vriska was spotted angrily peering over the fence that surrounded Aradia’s backyard. That then lead to a huge commotion, Aradia threatening to throw a brick at her.

            As he thought of Aradia’s furious shouting at Vriska, Sollux linked hands with his girlfriend, and they stared at the lake across from the bench. It was frozen, of course. Sollux was thinking of bringing Aradia there on an ice skating date later that week.

            Suddenly, without warning, Aradia froze, her body stiffening up, hand clenching Sollux’s. Sollux yelped, pulling his hand away from Aradia’s grasp. 

            “What was that for?” Sollux hissed while shaking his bright red hand. Aradia, however, did not respond. She sat completely still, with her eyebrows scrunched up together, as if straining to hear something faint and far away. Sollux knew it could only mean that the voices were communicating with her again.

            And for about a minute or two, Sollux watched Aradia, eyeing her to see if the voices had ceased talking. He thought that she looked like a statue, if it weren’t for her breathing.

            Aradia eventually rose from her seat, and when she turned to look at Sollux, her eyes were strange. They were wide with fear.

            “What happened?” Sollux asked, reaching over to touch her hand.

            Aradia shook her head. “I have to go.” She said hurriedly, flinging her bag over her shoulder.

            “What did the voices say?” Sollux pressed. At this point, he was beginning to be frightened himself. Aradia had always told him that the voices didn’t scare her at all, since she’s heard them from when she was a child. And it was because of this fact that made Sollux tremble inside.

            But once again, Aradia didn’t answer. She shook her head furiously. “I’ll tell you tomorrow. I have to prepare.”

            With a wave of her hand followed by a weak smile, Aradia scurried out of the park, leaving Sollux alone, frozen in time. And, without a ride to get home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Vriska takes an unwilling Sollux on a joyride.

 

A Breeze: Chapter 6

            As groups of students hurdled throughout the halls, Sollux kept his eyes out for Aradia. His hands still felt frozen after she’d left him at the park alone the afternoon before. Whether it was from the coldness of Aradia’s exit or the freezing weather itself, Sollux couldn’t decide which one caused his hands to become clammy. Aradia hadn’t responded to any of his texts, on phone or computer. Hell, Sollux even _called_ Aradia numerous times, but she never picked up. It was no use, he decided after calling her for the fifth time unsuccessfully. He would just have to wait until the next day.

            Now, Sollux slinked into his homeroom class, the teacher not noticing him at all. Despite his slightly over-average height, teachers only noted his presence when they checked his name during attendance. Not that Sollux had a problem with that. He wasn’t one who took joy in the spotlight. It was a wonder Aradia had gone so far as to talk to him that one day in 2nd grade. But now was not the time for flashbacks. Aradia could possibly be in danger, and finding out if she was safe was Sollux’s main priority.

            Sollux found his usual seat, and thankfully it was empty. He walked towards it, settling into his desk quickly. Sollux looked around. The class was only about half-full. Then again, there were about 10 minutes until the final bell rang for homeroom to begin. It was during this class that students would rush to finish homework assignments that they hadn’t completed the night before. As for Sollux, he just sat back and relaxed most of the time. But today, Sollux was jittery, trying to rub his hands to warm them up. His mind was disjointed with horrible things the voices might have told Aradia yesterday.

All last night, he heard voices bickering, fighting, groaning, and screaming about inside of his head. Even after he took his medication for his bi-polar disorder, the voices didn’t cease to bother him. It was because of this that Sollux only managed to get 4 hours of sleep. It was a restless night for him.

Sollux yawned, and at the same time, felt a small poke on his chest.

“Hey, dumbass.” Karkat poked him again with the eraser of his pencil.

“What?” Sollux rubbed his eyes as he looked up to see Karkat’s face.

“God, you look awful.” Karkat rolled his eyes.

“You finally figured out what getting less than 6 hours of sleep does to a person.” Sollux replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes as well.

“How about you just stop with your usual cynical comments and tell me what’s bothering you?” Karkat spat, looking at Sollux expectantly.

“How do you know something’s wrong?” Sollux narrowed his eyes at Karkat suspiciously.

“I am the expert of knowing emotions and how people express them. My sources, while confidential, are extremely creditable.”

“Your sources are your stupid romantic-comedy movies, right?” Sollux blurted out, in spite of himself.

Karkat’s eyes widened. “H-How did you know about them?” He asked, horrified.

Sollux’s comment clearly caught Karkat off guard. Damn it. He wasn’t supposed to find out that Sollux knew. Karkat sighed. “Can you just tell me what’s wrong?”

            “It has nothing to do with you.”

            “Something’s wrong, Sollux?” A calm, cheerful voice asked. Sollux’s eyes lifted upwards to see Aradia standing in front of him, next to Karkat. She looked concerned. Sollux wondered how long she was standing there, listening to his conversation with Karkat.

            “Oh, thank god! The mediator’s here!” Karkat muttered, gesturing towards Aradia.

            Aradia laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s Kanaya’s job, Karkat!” She paused to tap her chin with her index finger. “She’s coming back here next week, right?”

            Karkat nodded. “Yep. And she better come goddamn quick. Your boyfriend here hasn’t gotten any sleep last night, as I've noted from his bloodshot eyes and sunken dark circles.”

            “What? Why, what happened?” Aradia turned to  Sollux with immediate concern.

            “Nothing. I just…forgot to take my medication, that’s all.” He sighed. If only he could tell her what was actually bothering him. The thing that was preventing Sollux from doing so was Karkat, however, as insignificant as his presence can be. He didn’t need his already tense friend to be worried about him, of all things.

            “Sollux…” Aradia frowned at him.

            “AA, what was that all about yesterday?” Sollux brought out the question he’d wanted to ask.

            Aradia’s eyes widened, and her eyebrows lifted up in surprise, as if she didn’t recollect the memory at all. Sollux, however, remembered the scene vividly. There was no doubt in his mind that it happened. It did. It had too...

            “We can talk about that later, Sollux,” Aradia’s face turned grim as she pursed her lips together, as they did whenever she wanted to say more, but couldn’t. “I’ll see you at lunch, alright?” Sollux nodded in reply, and Aradia turned to Karkat. “See you later!” She said quietly, before walking away from the two, and out of the classroom.

            “What the actual fuck just happened?” Karkat asked, completely confused. “Did you guys have a fight or something?”

            “I’ll tell you later.” Sollux exhaled deeply, opening his backpack to retrieve a notebook and pencil. “When I know about it myself.”

* * *

 

            The first five periods of class passed by quickly and soon, much too soon, it was time for lunch. Sollux exited his math class, barely able to retain the information the teacher had babbled about during his hour with him.  He stopped just a few feet from the door. He leaned on the wall, looking out for a raven-haired, brown-eyed girl who always wore a smile on her face. 

            A few seconds passed. Sollux closed his eyes, the sight of his fellow students fading to darkness. The formulas he wrote down during class appeared. He could understand only about half of it. Alright, alright, Aradia was probably just running late. She was busy sometimes, and it wasn’t like she _always_ had to walk with Sollux. After about 5 minutes of waiting for Aradia and trying to decipher that formula, Sollux decided to just head to the cafeteria himself.

            It was when he was approaching the staircase that Karkat had suddenly appeared beside Sollux. “When did you get here?” Sollux asked, trying to hold back a chuckle. “I thought you would have been trampled to death by now.”

            “Look at where you’re going instead of at me, so that you don’t split your skull open trying to walk down the stairs like a regular human being.”  Karkat groaned, and Sollux could tell from it that he was trying to not get too annoyed with him. “You know these short jokes have gotten old since day fucking one.”  

            “As if I’d care.” Sollux muttered to himself, his moment of enjoyment bursting like a bubble.

            This time, Karkat sighed in defeat. “Just hurry up. You’re holding the entire class up.”

            Sollux rolled his eyes in annoyance, but kept quiet as he and Karkat made their way down the main staircase of the school. It was located in the middle of the school, and students shuffled downwards and upwards, shoving and pushing Sollux and Karkat around. It was a miracle that no one had yet died from these stairs. Slab, after slab, after slab of cement they stepped on. Sollux thought that there should be a rule forbidding this many people on a single staircase at one time. To both his and Karkat’s relief, they both made it down the stairs safely, and immediately headed towards the cafeteria.

            They passed through the giant, metal doors a few minutes later, and Sollux was greeted by the overwhelming fragrance of different foods. Karkat led the way to their usual table, and Sollux immediately spotted Aradia, who was already seated and reading a book. “Hey, AA.” Sollux greeted, smiling slightly and waving his hand.

            “Sollux!” Aradia perked her head up and grinned. Sollux took his seat across from Aradia, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. She didn’t seem frightened at all, contrasting from her troubled look the day before. He peeked over her shoulder to view the book she was reading. The small part he skimmed over talked about conjuring ghosts and summoning them.

            Aradia turned to see Sollux staring at her book. “Is there something you need to see?” She asked, shutting the book quickly. “The book is just about…well, you know!” Aradia gave a don’t-you-dare-mention-the-ghost look to Sollux as she shot a few sideway glances at Karkat. Sollux nodded his head to show that he understood her message. Aradia’s voices were a secret she had told only Sollux. At least, he was sure of it!

            “I’m here too, you know.” Karkat grumbled.

            “Hello to you too, Karkat!” Aradia grinned at him. Sollux saw Karkat’s eyes light up a tiny bit. “Sorry, I was just invested in this book!”

            “It’s fine.” Karkat replied, waving Aradia’s greeting off. “Just the average life of being a third-wheel.”

            “You are not a third-wheel!” Aradia exclaimed. “You contribute to our conversations as much as Sollux!”

            “He sort of is one, honestly.” Sollux admitted. Aradia pushed her elbow into Sollux’s ribs a bit forcefully.

“He isn't! And that’s that!” Aradia rolled her eyes at Sollux’s comment, a hint of a smile still on her face.

 “Sorry,” Sollux apologized automatically. Aradia nodded, and mouthed a “sorry” back.

            For a few moments, it was silent. Sollux stared from Aradia, to Karkat, and to the book covered with notes and doodles. Sollux had never seen it before.

            “I’m just going to head outside.” Karkat spoke after he couldn’t bear the quiet mood for any longer. He stood from his seat, and awkwardly moved away from the table. He walked away from Sollux and Aradia, leaving them alone to talk.

            “Are you going to tell me now?” Sollux asked her as soon as Karkat was out of earshot, hopefully.

            Aradia breathed in, and exhaled slowly. “Yes, now I’ll tell you.” She dusted the cover of her book. The title read, “A Guide To Ghosts: How to Summon, Serve, and Suppress Them”.

            Sollux sat there, head on arms on table, listening for Aradia to speak, as well as trying to decrypt the reason Aradia was so interested in reading such a book. Had she done something to upset the ghosts? The more the thought persisted, the more Sollux believed it to be true.

            “I can’t tell you everything, Sollux.” Aradia spoke finally, smoothing her hair over. It still fluffed up as soon as her hands moved away. “And please, please don’t ask why. I won’t be able to come up with a solid excuse.” She looked into Sollux’s eyes.

            Sollux nodded silently. Although he didn’t exactly agree with this rule, he had no other choice.

            “Alright then,” Aradia cleared her throat. She hesitated for a moment, and Sollux cocked his eyebrow. 

            “I’ve made a mistake, and a very big one, at that.” She said so softly that Sollux had to lean in closer just to hear her correctly.

            “Did you get the ghosts riled up or something?” He asked.

            Aradia shook her head. “It’s not the spirits who are riled up.”

            Sollux lifted an eyebrow. “Then who?”

            “A long-time nemesis of mine. Of course, you know her.”

            “Vriska, right?”

            “You’ve deducted your conclusion magnificently, Sir Captor.” Aradia showed just a flicker of a smile, before her face turned stone grim.

            Sollux groaned loudly in response. “What did you do this time?”

            “I’ve sent some of my friends to give her a talk.”

            “Friends?”

            “They’re not living, but friends nonetheless!”

            Sollux leaned back. “Woah, woah, woah, wait! Are you telling me that you have _ghosts_ -“ Aradia’s suddenly clamped her hand onto Sollux’s mouth. “Don’t be so loud!” She whispered  harshly. She stared intensely at Sollux, who nodded. Aradia slowly removed her hand from his mouth.

            "You've sent  _ghosts_ to haunt Vriska?" Sollux spoke in soft tones, his concern growing with each word. 

            “Yes, I did it." Aradia explained. "I just wasn’t thinking straight at the time. Vriska tried to brake into the house. How could I not be angry, Sollux? Vriska is a very dangerous person, and I can't keep letting her trample me over and over again! ”

            Sollux silently pondered his next question. 

            “When did you do this?”        

            Aradia thought for a second. “A few days ago.”

            “And then?” Sollux pressed.

            “She became very angry. When we went to the park yesterday, the voices began to warn me.” Aradia looked down at the book before lifting her eyes. They rarely showed sadness, but Sollux could see it loud and clear. “They told me that my actions will result in a large consequence.”

            “Can’t you just ask them to forgive you- I mean, ask Vriska to forgive you?” Sollux suggested, fully alarmed.

            “It’s too late. The consequence is inevitable as long as Vriska continues to loathe my very existence.”

            “There has to be a way to stop whatever’s going to happen!” Sollux shouted.  

            “Where’s Karkat?” Terezi asked. Sollux and Aradia both peered up at once to see her walking towards their table.

            “Getting lunch.” Sollux replied, trying to retain his usually calm composure.

            “Really?” Terezi rolled her eyes. “And I thought that he was going to escort me to the line like the gentleman he so ever wants to be with me!”

            Sollux got a chuckle out of that. Terezi walked towards the table, grabbing Sollux’s arm as a guide. “Augh!” Sollux protested, but Terezi just laughed, finding her seat next to Sollux and dumping her backpack onto the table.

            “You’ll be my escort this time!” Terezi grinned widely. Sollux looked back to Aradia, who giggled despite the worried look in her eyes. “Go on,” She nodded. “It’s fine.”

Terezi pushed Sollux further away from Aradia and more towards the exit, and he reluctantly began to guide her. As they passed a table, somebody whistled.

            After bumping into each other repeatedly, both Sollux and Terezi made it onto the lunch line. When they finally reached the stack of trays, Terezi let go of Sollux to cut in front of everyone in line. “The odds are ever in my favor.” She quoted the famous “The Hunger Games” line. Sollux mentally groaned, grabbing his tray and sliding it down metal freeway. He plucked a milk carton from a nearby container, and put it on his plate. Moving down the line, he stretched his hand to take his usual ham sandwich, but someone had landed a tight grip on his wrist before he could do so.

            “Hey there, Captor!” Sollux turned his head to see Vriska grinning at him. Sollux looked back at the line, Terezi already heading back to the cafeteria. “Not getting any mac and cheese? It’s the main dish for today. I’ve heard it’s delicious!”

            “I don’t like mac and cheese.” Sollux pulled his hand as an attempt to escape.

            “Oh yeah!” Vriska dragged out the last word in her sentence, keeping a firm clasp around Sollux’s wrist. Sollux rolled his eyes. Of course she wouldn’t know. They haven’t had a proper conversation in months. “But that’s enough of the small talk. I have something I’ve wanted to talk to you about.”

            “Can you let go of my wrist first?” Sollux asked, pointing to her spidery thin fingers with his free hand. “You’re going to cut off the circulation to my fingers with your fake nails.”

            “They are _not_ fake!” Vriska said, completely offended. She regained her taunting demeanor quickly after, however.

            “I want to offer you some help!” She said in a cheerful voice despite her obvious smirk. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been depending on ol' Aradia for being dropped off and picked up from school! My cold stone of a heart suddenly began to bleed, thinking about how helpless and weak you must feel, needing to be helped by such an insignificant-” 

            “I’m not going to buy one of your cheap cars, Vriska.” Sollux interrupted. “And don't talk about Aradia like that.”

            “No, you’ve got me all wrong!” Vriska grinned. “I’m going to teach you how to drive!” 

            Sollux was taken back by this statement. Teach him how to...drive? What kind of plan was hatching in Vriska's cunning mind. 

            “I’m…pretty sure that’s illegal. Why would you want to waste your time with me, anyway?” Sollux lifted both eyebrows.

            “I’m being _nice_ , Sollux. Can’t a girl be nice to her friends?” Vriska leaned over so that their shoulders touched. She batted her eyelashes in a mockingly flirtatious manner at Sollux.

            Sollux didn’t respond, so she kept talking.

            “The first thing you’ll need to do is to witness an actual person driving yourself! That’s why I’m going to drop you home today!” She grinned mischievously.

 

            “No, you’re not!” Sollux delivered a final, rough tug, and Vriska released her grasp. His nails had scratched her skin, and she swore. Sollux quickly grabbed his sandwich before cutting ahead in the line to pay.

* * *

 

            Sollux cut across the snow-covered grass, and dove into a nearby corner. It was after the last class of the day, gym. Sollux was retrieving his belongings from his locker when he heard Vriska calling his name. Without a moment of hesitation, he slammed his locker shut and ran to the nearest exit.

            That exit he took however, led him to the back of the school, where the teacher’s parking lot was located. Sollux would have to walk around the entire parking lot to get back to where the student parking lot was. At least he was safe now. His butt was freezing from sitting on top of the snow, but he was still safe. Still tired from running, Sollux peeked his head from his corner. It looked like the coast was clear. He slowly stood up, and stepped out. Sollux sighed with relief.

            “I nearly missed you, Sollux!” Vriska laughed tauntingly. Sollux froze from where he stood, and cautiously turned around to face Vriska. He could hear a menacing crunch of ice beneath her feet as she walked towards him. “Let’s get going!”

            She swiftly appeared behind Sollux , placed her hands firmly on his shoulders, and pushed him forwards. Sollux dug the heels of his sneakers into the frozen ground, but Vriska simply kept on pushing. Sollux could feel the snow pile into his shoes. “I really don’t have time for this you know.” Sollux tried to talk his way out of there. Vriska just told him to shut it, and as soon as they made it to Vriska’s beat-up truck, she planted him onto the passenger seat. “Lucky for you, I’m running some errands today.”

            “How does that make me lucky?” Sollux asked.

            “You get to observe me drive for a longer time period!” Vriska climbed into the driver’s seat. After she dug into the pocket of her jacket to find her keys, she jammed it into the ignition, and stomped on the gas pedal. The car jerked forward before Sollux could put his seat belt, making him bonk his head against the car door window.

Vriska suddenly stepped on the breaks upon realizing that there was a car parked in front of hers. “Damn assholes.” She muttered under her breath. Sollux gripped his head, which had begun to ache a bit. Damn assholes.

            Vriska tried again, backing up slowly and _then_ moving forwards out of her parking space. As they left the school grounds, Sollux quickly strapped himself into the seat buckle, feeling immediately safer. Vriska was known around the school to have poor driving skills. Sollux could know vouch for it himself, since he’d nearly been killed before they even left the grounds.

            From there, Vriska drove out of town, and onto the freeway, heading to the nearest store. The town they lived in was extremely underdeveloped when it came to shopping.

Sollux sighed to himself. He already regretted running from Vriska, getting into this car, and being dragged to “Vriska’s Driving School of Death and Destruction”. A small chuckle escaped from Sollux’s lips as he mumbled the words to himself. He began to gaze outside of his window, where large trees passed by so quickly that they looked like nothing but a blur.

“A- _hem_.” Vriska cleared her throat loudly. Sollux twisted to see Vriska staring at him. “Remember, eyes on the wheel.” Her nails tapped the steering wheel.

“I think _your_ eyes should be on the wheel.” Sollux whispered harshly.

“I’m not an idiot, geez.” Vriska rolled her eyes at Sollux’s sudden concern. “One thing happens to your brother, and you’re suddenly a spineless whimp when it comes to sitting in a fucking car!”

Sollux’s anger began to simmer inside of him, but thankfully, Vriska didn’t notice the change of demeanor on his face.

For the rest of the trip, whenever Sollux’s eyes trailed off to stare at the road once again, Vriska would snap in his face, and tell him to look at her hands on the wheel.

They soon made it to a nearby Walmart, but instead of parking in the front where regular customers would, Vriska skidded to the back of the store. Sollux could only imagine what she was going to do next. She climbed out of the truck, taking with her a worn sack. Sollux saw her run up to the back door, and knock. The door swung open immediately, and a man who showed no expression. He turned his head both left and right a few times, as if to make sure that no one was around to witness the whole event. The man then took his own sack out, and dumped some objects into Vriska’s sack. The door slammed shut, and Vriska dashed back to the car. She hopped in and quickly drove out of there, completely ignoring Sollux’s questions.

  From that point on, a routine began to occur. Vriska would always drive to the back parking lots of stores. An employee would open the door. Sometimes they looked frightened, while others had the same emotionless expression as the first man.  The person would then glance around, then proceed to dump some items into Vriska’s sack.

After the third errand stop, the phone in Sollux’s bag began to ring. He quickly unzipped his backpack, and took it out. It was his father calling him, for once. Sollux checked the time to see that it was 4:30. He was supposed to be home by 3:15.

It looked like Sollux had some explaining to do.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it's been 3 months. 3 months full of school work, bullshittery, and my pure laziness. However, here it is. Chapter 7 of "A Breeze"! It's taken me so long to draft, type up, and edit, which I apologize for! I hope the length of this chapter makes up for my lack of updates! 
> 
> Thank you for reading, as always! Enjoy!  
> (hue hue hue)

apocalypseArisen [AA] began pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 7:53.  
AA: s0llux, we need t0 talk pr0nt0  
TA: ii agree.  
TA: aa, what exactly ii2 2upposed two happen  
AA: 0h  
AA: y0u…want t0 talk ab0ut that i was g0ing t0 bring up s0mething different  
TA: liike what?   
TA: ii2 there 2omethiiing more iimportant than  
TA: ii dont know  
TA: po22iibly beiing doomed iin a 2eriious 2iituatiion  
AA: …  
AA: are y0u in a m00d s0llux  
AA:   
TA: no  
AA: y0u are in a m00d   
TA: nope  
AA: anyway what ive been meaning t0 ask is…  
AA: where were y0u after sch00l  
AA: i spent ab0ut an H0UR waiting f0r y0u  
AA: did y0u walk h0me 0r s0mething  
TA: no   
AA: then what  
AA: g0d i was s0 w0rried  
TA: ii wa2 bu2y attendiing vrii2ka’2 driiviing 2chool of death and de2tructiion  
AA: 0h  
AA: 0h g0d  
AA: s0 she WAS seri0us ab0ut taking y0u 0n a j0y ride  
TA: yep  
AA: any m0re 0f an explanati0n here im still s0rt 0f c0nfused  
TA: 2he made me tag along wiith her on a bunch of errand2  
TA: iit wa2 actually le22 exciitiing than what 2he2 bragged about  
AA: i knew it ha ha  
TA: iit wa2 2o   
TA: 2tupiid  
AA: it s0unds stupid   
AA: but s0llux y0u really sh0uldve texted me earlier  
TA: ii know  
AA: where are y0u n0w  
TA: iin the car agaiin vrii2ka2 2till jabberiing 2hiit.  
TA: ii wa2 almo2t knocked unconciiou2 before we even left the 2chool   
AA: 0mfg  
AA: that may be a bit 0f an exaggerati0n but hey what d0 i kn0w  
TA: youre telliing me  
AA: like i’ve said she’s m0re cunning than she is intelligent  
TA: ehehehe  
AA: y0ure s0 adorable   
AA: have i t0ld y0u that  
TA: uh  
TA: well yeah ii gue22  
AA: 00h are y0u getting…  
AA: “flu2tered”  
AA: ha ha! ;D  
TA: ..  
AA: aradia megid0 achieves an0ther p0int while sir s0llux still waits h0pefully t0 change that zer0   
TA: you diidnt wiin that 2nowball fight aa  
TA: we both know iit  
AA: hmmmmm  
TA: 2iigh  
AA: are y0u still upset  
TA: iim 2orry iim beiing a total 2hiit riight now  
TA: my head2 not iin the riight place today but then agaiin, ii2 iit EVER iin the riight place?  
TA: can we ju2t talk about the gho2t2 iim begging you  
TA: god damn iit iim goiing two explode iim 2orry iim tra2h   
AA: d0nt say that s0llux  
AA: y0u arent trash 0k   
AA: but we can talk ab0ut them   
TA: tell me what the con2equence2 are   
TA: you were beiing two vague la2t tiime   
AA: ah i see  
TA: yeah  
AA: i d0n’t kn0w myself  
AA: i have abs0lutely N0 idea 0n what the punishment will be t0 be h0nest   
TA: fuckiing 2HIIT  
TA: gdii aa, we’re 2crewed. iif you don’t know, then what the hell are we 2uppo2ed two do? iive had a bad feeling about thii2 for day2  
AA: is that why karkat said y0u werent sleeping well  
TA: ii gue22  
AA: theres s0mething else t0 it right  
AA: and please d0nt deny it this time   
TA: iit 2ound2 iin2ane though  
AA: s0llux y0u sh0uld kn0w that ive experienced many insane things  
AA: pr0bably m0re insane than fr0m m0st pe0ple experience  
AA: trust me  
TA: iim 2tartiing two hear voiice2   
AA: i kn0w  
TA: waiit  
TA: WHAT  
TA: thii2 ii2 part of your whole miind reader thiing ii2nt iit  
AA: again s0llux i just have a really g00d intuiti0n  
TA: ..  
AA: 0k that isnt true f0r 0nly this time   
TA: huh  
AA: the v0ices t0ld me   
TA: wow  
TA: ii 2houldve known   
AA: are they like mine  
TA: ii know you hear the voiice2 of the dead and all but the voiice2 iim hearing 2cream all of the tiime  
TA: they 2cream about neediing help   
AA: 0_0  
AA: thats pretty strange  
AA: when i hear my 0wn v0ices as y0u kn0w theyve t0ld me that theyre already deceased   
AA: mine d0nt sh0ut  
AA: they just c0mplain ab0ut being dead  
AA: being dead sure w0uld suck th0ugh  
TA: well from what iive gathered from miine   
TA: they 2hout and cry out for help that2 all they do.  
TA: ii e2peciially hate iit when they a2k ME for help of all people   
TA: liike what the fuck can ii do ii cant rever2e tiime or 2hiit liike that two 2ave theiir pathetiic a22e2.  
TA: iin fact ii thiink ii 2peciialiize iin one thiing only   
AA: and that is  
TA: doom  
AA: s0llux!!!!   
TA: what  
AA: d0nt think that!   
TA: iit2 true  
AA: s0llux!!!!! please!!!  
AA: i need t0 think ab0ut y0ur situati0n  
TA: 2o what youre sayiing ii2   
TA: currently you cant thiink of anythiing  
TA: great   
AA: im s0rry s0llux i really am  
TA: dont fret aa iit2 fiine  
TA: iim 2orry agaiin iive been lo2iing 2leep   
TA: iim half a2leep riight now iin fact   
TA: how do fiingers even work   
AA: actually i think i may have s0mething   
TA: what ii2 iit  
AA: i kn0w this is a really l0ng stretch f0r y0u s0llux but i think y0u sh0uld try t0 relax bef0re y0u sleep   
AA: getting anxi0us w0nt help  
TA: that2 goiing two be really hard you   
AA: yes i realize that   
AA: but i believe in y0u  
TA: augh ii have two go   
AA: h0ld 0n   
TA: yeah   
AA: put y0ur finger 0n the screen  
TA: sure  
AA: d0 y0u feel anything   
TA: the screen is warm  
AA: think of the warmth as a s0rt 0f connecti0n between y0u and i!   
AA: im right here if y0u need me   
AA: well talk m0re t0m0rr0w alright  
TA: 2ure   
TA: promii2e  
AA: i pr0mise  
TA: heheh  
TA: thank2 aa really.   
AA: n0 pr0blem   
AA: i l0ve y0u s0llux  
AA: 0u0  
AA: n0 that l00ks stupid  
TA: iit2 fiine  
TA: ii love you two  
AA: g0 t0 sleep right when y0u get h0me 0k  
TA: ill try  
AA: sweet dreams  
AA: g00d night  
TA: niight  
AA: <3  
TA: <33  
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased pestering twinArmaggedons [TA] at 8:00.

Sollux sighed as Aradia logged off from Pesterchum. It was around 8:00 at night, and being the good daughter that she was, Aradia probably was getting ready for bed.For Sollux, all afternoon was spent being dragged to the backs of one store after another. His head collided with the window at least three times during the trip. He was sure a bruise was starting to form upon inspecting his forehead from the side mirror of Vriska’s truck.

“Alright! We’re here!” Vriska jerked her truck to a stop. Sollux grabbed onto the handle located on the ceiling, right above his side’s window. He stared out the window at the unfamiliar house in front of him. He saw a plastic pink flamingo on the lawn covered with fresh snow, its neon paint reflecting the light of a nearby streetlamp. There was no way this was Sollux’s house.

“This isn’t my place.” Sollux told Vriska. He could tell she was rolling her eyes at him even without turning around to see it for himself. “I’m only driving this close.” She responded. “I have a home to get to, you know. Your two choices are either you get your lazy ass out of my truck and walk home, or I kick you out.” Sollux finally turned around reluctantly. Vriska was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

Sollux made his decision. “Fine, I’ll get out.” He pulled the truck door’s handle and stepped outside. The wind had begun to habitually slap him the face with its cruel greeting. No sooner than a few seconds had passed when the chilling breeze bore into Sollux’s bones. He shuddered in the cold. He couldn’t believe that he took the heater in Vriska’s truck for granted. The winter he was protected from before made him want to crawl back into the truck.

Teeth chattering uncontrollably, Sollux started to make his way back to his home slowly. His legs felt like cement blocks as he forced himself to take another step, and another, and another. As he mumbled to himself, Sollux could see his breath in front of him. It comforted him, knowing that he was still alive in this bare and frozen hell.

Sollux reached into his pants’ pocket as soon as he approached the front of his house. He pulled out a key that was connected to a piece of lanyard Aradia had made him. It was black and yellow, the famous colors of a honeybee. It was also the title to a very annoying rap song that played on the radio at least 5 times in one sitting. Sollux couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he gazed at it. He stopped staring when he realized that his fingers were numb, and continued to walk up the stairs of his porch before jamming the key into its hole hurriedly. He opened the door, and a welcoming heat greeted him. Sollux stepped into his home and began to immediately slip out of his shoes. He had lied to his father on the phone earlier that day, telling Mr. Captor that he was on a study date with Aradia, and that he wouldn’t be back until at least nine.

Mr. Captor poked his head from the kitchen. “Hello, Sollux.” He gave a slight smile which disappeared after a second or so. Sollux remembered the last time his father gave a sincere smile. It was during a football game, where Sollux and his father were strewn along the couch while Mituna had gone out to the movies with a couple of friends. A little while later was when Mr. Captor picked up the phone, and after that, his caring and friendly smile faded away to the simple lift of the corners of his mouth.

“Hey, dad.” Sollux replied automatically, returning the small, barely there smile.

“You’re back early.”

Sollux nodded, and sighed. “I’ll be upstairs doing homework.”

“Alright, then.” Mr. Captor’s head disappeared, and Sollux began climbing up the staircase, slouching from the weight of his backpack.

_______________________________________________--

10:00 p.m.

Sollux read the time from the corner of his computer screen. He sighed to himself. There goes his promise to Aradia that he’d go to sleep early. But Sollux was busy. He was busy trying to distract himself from the soon to be dead. He’d tried to sleep two hours earlier, but his head throbbed from the shouts and pleads from the voices. Even if they weren’t there, Sollux was sure that he still wouldn’t have been able to sleep. If he slept early, then he’d wake up too early for school. He hated being up so early in the morning.

Things just simply didn’t go his way.

Sollux suddenly had an idea. He could imagine the cartoony lightbulb shining on top of his matted hair. It was an idea that could possibly be a huge waste of time or a key to finding more information about a certain spidery classmate of his. It was _something_ , nonetheless, and that’s all that Sollux cared about.

Sollux slowly slid off of his bed, cautious to not make too much noise. Mituna was sent to bed early tonight after an incident that happened after Sollux came home. It involved some markers, the living room floor, and an argument between Sollux and his father. Sollux grinded his teeth once before remembering that he weren’t supposed to do that with braces on. Fuck braces, man.

 Mituna’s room was right under Sollux’s, making the challenge of tiptoeing on the floor less challenging. Sollux’s brother was a heavy sleeper, unlike himself. The lightest of sounds could result in Sollux being jolted awake. It was the reason he didn’t so much as go to sleepovers anymore. Heavy sleeper or not, he didn’t feel like risking it.

He made it onto the floor safely, with only the sound of a soft _thump_. He tiptoed over to his backpack which was perched against the footboard of his bed. He slowly unzipped it, and took out a notebook. He flipped to a dog-earred page, the action of which pained Karkat morally. He took out the ragged piece of paper Vriska had handed to him two days ago. The ink that formed the word, “fuchsiaRuler” was still vivid and blue as ever. Sollux returned the notebook to his backpack, stuffing it into its regular place. Nice, and organized. Mostly. Sollux zipped the bag up slowly, and stepped back onto his bed.

Sollux held the piece of paper to the light of his computer screen so that he could view it better, and make sure he spelled it right. He logged onto Pesterchum, which had begun to glitch more often these days. He clicked an icon to add another “chum”, and hesitated over the keyboard for a moment. Sollux had begun to think this over again. Before he could begin to _over_ think this, however, his index finger jammed onto the “F” key. The deed had been done. There was no going back now, despite the presence of the backspace key a few inches away. Sollux typed in the rest of the Pesterchum handle without any more wavering, but with expertise and fast-moving fingers.

It was time to pester a chum. 

twinArmageddons [TA] began pestering fuchsiaRuler [FR] at 10:13.  
  
TA: uh   
TA: hey   
FR: who the shell is pestering me right now  
FR: you cant be serious   
FR: also what the fuck kinda name is twinArmageddons  
FR: you into destruction of some shit like that  
FR: aint sayin its bad  
TA: can ii plea2e have a moment two 2peak thank you  
FR: WHAL-E FUCKING FIN-E  
TA: watch your language   
TA: dii2re2pectful  
FR: shut the fuck up  
FR: that was bassically the signal to tell me who you are  
FR: ya got 3 seconds  
TA: what happen2 iif ii dont?   
FR: i got a real dumbass computer hacker waitin to get some more victims  
FR: havent gotten some actual contact with him in a while but yeah  
FR: it can happen still  
TA: really  
FR: tell me your fucking name oh my cod  
TA: what2 wiith all the pun2   
TA: youre makiing my head hurt even more  
TA: oh 2hiit riight  
TA: iim bob  
FR: …  
FR: …  
FR: bob  
TA: hell yeah  
FR: i can smell a liar faster than a shark can smell blood   
FR: cough up the truth  
TA: there2 hone2tly no rea2on two keep thii2 charade up   
TA: 2ollux  
FR: what the fuck did u just say to me  
TA: that2 my name  
TA: 2ollux captor  
FR: woah woah woah wait  
FR: youre a captor huh  
TA: ye2 iit appear2 that ii am   
FR: dont fuckin sass me u shit  
FR: you know that friend i mentioned earlier  
FR: well it just so happens that hes a captor too  
FR: you know him?   
TA: what  
FR: i went to high school with him  
FR: i sorta feel bad for him now that i think about it   
TA: are you talkiing about miituna  
FR: yeah   
FR: yeah thats the guy!!!  
FR: so you know him  
TA: obviiou2ly iim hii2 brother  
FR: woah x2  
TA: keep your woah2 under control mam  
FR: this is getting interesting  
FR: thats good   
FR: tell me shit yo  
TA: what kiind of 2hiit do you wii2h two hear?  
FR: anything   
FR: youre lucky im even still chatting with you rn   
TA: whatever

 

Sollux continued to talk with the blunt “fuchsiaRuler” for the next few hours. He found out her name was Meenah. He recognized the name, but it was categorized into the file in his brain labeled, “Memories I Wish To Forget and Never Relive”. He couldn’t even place a face or anything of the sort to it. Only the name was familiar. Meenah. Meenah something. She went to high school with Mituna, as she told Sollux. Meenah was also very wealthy, which proved Vriska’s statement a fact, for once. She had a younger sister, but refused to give a name for some reason before asking if Sollux would want to date her. Sollux, of course, refused, telling Meenah he was already in a relationship. Meenah was disappointed, but kept the conversation going. By the end of the conversation, and a few middle of the night nonsense bouts of laughter, Sollux realized that it was very much past his bedtime . And perhaps he told her more than he should have.

“You really suck at this.” Mituna taunted. Sollux and his brother had been playing video games for at least an hour. It was one of the few times the two were able to cooperate with each other long enough to do anything productive. Sollux joined Mituna in front of the T.V. after he’d contemplated sitting in the kitchen while biting the little remnants he had of his nails. He decided against it, since doing that would just give him more time to worry. It was only three days ago when Vriska took Sollux on a joyride throughout the area. Now, it was Saturday, and Sollux thought the week had passed by too quickly. Three days spent scourging the useless shit not wanted by chain stores in the back parking lot. Sollux had ranted about these trips to Aradia, who was gladly able to calm him down.

Normally, Vriska would chase Sollux down at the back of the school and carry him to her car. However, since today was Saturday, Vriska told him the day before that she would come to pick him up. 8:00 in the morning, she said. It was 8:05.

Sollux sighed in response to Mituna’s statement. “I know.” He grumbled. They were playing Mario Kart with the Captor’s Wii, which Sollux was never to beat Mituna at. Sollux may be better at coding, but Mituna was the greatest video game player he knew. He was always good. Mituna was unwilling to let Sollux play at first, but agreed after some unnecessary arguing. There was also the threat of telling their father that Mituna had stolen some cash to buy another game. But it was mostly the arguing.

Being bad at most games never bothered Sollux much, but even today, Luigi was placed in 12th for the 3rd consecutive race in a row. Sollux blamed it on a lack of sleep.  His eyes had fluttered a few times when they first began to play. He couldn’t concentrate at all on the screen, much less the actual controls.

‘If I were more awake,’ Sollux thought to himself. ‘I would beat him easily.’

Even as he told this to himself, Sollux knew that it wasn’t true. He was jittery. The air inside of the house was warm enough, so he couldn’t comprehend the reasons to why he was freezing. Sollux mindlessly moved his thumbs in a not thoughtful motion. Turn, jump, turn, turn, and keep turning…fucking damn it. Luigi was thrown into the black abyss.

‘There’s nothing to worry about.’ He told himself. ‘Nothing.’

He couldn’t even convince himself. It made him think about Vriska’s comment a few days ago. “Just because one thing happened to your brother, you act like a spineless whimp whenever you’re in a car.” She didn’t know half of it.

Mituna ended up winning the race. He threw his arms up in the air, cheering loudly. “You’re so lucky dad isn’t home.” Sollux muttered to his brother. Mituna ignored his comment. He got up, stretched his arms and legs. The doorbell rang. Mituna glanced at it. He didn’t rush to answer it as usual. Sollux got up and walked to the door slowly. It couldn’t be anyone else but Vriska.

He unlocked the door, twisted the doorknob with cautious hands, and pulled it open with the chilly air greeting him with a slap. An extravagant smile was plastered onto the Serket’s face. Her horribly kool-aid dyed hair was still horrible.

“You’re late.” Sollux told her. Vriska scoffed. “I’m fashionably late. Ever heard of the term? Of course you haven’t.” She smirked, not allowing Sollux to answer. “You’re always so crammed up in your room…sort of like a lonely scrap of a cat, trying to hide itself from the world.”

“I hate cats.”

“Shut up, will you? Let’s get going.” Vriska grabbed Sollux’s hand.

“Mituna!” Sollux shouted. “I’ll be back soon! Don’t burn the house down.”

Mituna sat silently playing his video games.

Something wasn’t quite right about that.

Sollux and Vriska stepped out into the cold, winter wind. The first thing Sollux noticed was the sky. It was gloomy, and grey. When he looked down, he saw the snow-covered porch steps in front of him. He carefully took a step out of his house as Vriska closed the door. They walked silently to Vriska’s truck. The window shield had frost covering it, making Vriska groan angrily. She stomped over the vehicle and began to wipe the windows with her sleeve. Sollux could hear her muttering to herself, calling the truck a “worthless piece of shit”. He smirked. Aradia would have lifted its spirits greatly.

He looked onto the streets. They were eerily desolate, covered by a thick fog. The dreary mood of this scene matched Sollux’s mood. Anxious, worrisome, wanting to run to a place far away, but with no actual way of doing so.

Vriska was finished with her muttering and swiping after a few minutes. She leaned on the truck, arms crossed and foot on one of the front wheels. “Come on, get in the front.”

“What?” Sollux asked.

“The front. Get in.” She gestured to the driver’s side of the car.

“This wasn’t part of the agreement.” Sollux said. Vriska had now taken out her keys. She flung it towards Sollux, who missed the catch. The keys skidded onto the icy sidewalk. Sollux sighed and bent down to retrieve them. Upon standing up, Vriska grabbed Sollux’s arm tightly. “You’re getting in there.” She whispered to him, with tones so harsh and cold they were bound to freeze Sollux’s ears off. Sollux shivered in return. Vriska took his wrist, dragging him to the truck while laughing strangely to herself. She turned to Sollux when they returned to the car door. He fearfully pressed the button that would unlock the car. It was strange to him, how he somehow knew which button stood for which when he never operated this sort of thing. The truck’s beeps were slightly haunting, dying and out of tune. A sound that Sollux would have suspected to come from Aradia’s truck.

Vriska pushed her hand onto Sollux’s back, and he opened the car door. He slowly slid onto the driver’s seat, hands shaking as they closed the door. He looked upwards at the mirror. Patchwork eyes framed with fear stared back at him. Sollux blinked, and they blinked back He shifted his eyes away from the mirror, choosing instead to stare at the steering wheel. Sollux could hear Vriska enter the car. The air stiffened and froze. Sollux exhaled, unaware that he had been holding his breath the entire time. His breath was visible in the frosty air.

“Put the key into the ignition.” Vriska told him as if he were a small child. Sollux obeyed with the nod of his head.

Why couldn’t he speak against her?

“Now, buckle up, since you’re underage. I don’t want to get arrested for that.”

How could buckling up be the _most_ of her concern? He shouldn’t have been in front of the wheel in the first place.

He finally found use for his vocal chords when Vriska told him to get driving.

“You can’t be serious.” He spoke, nearly absent-mindedly. He turned to see Vriska looking away from him. She faced the window, shoulders hunched. She sighed deeply. The sound of glasses being adjusted made Sollux feel the tiniest bit sympathetic. Maybe she really _was_ trying to help him.

Stop thinking that way. Sollux told himself. The Serket girl never meant anything but trouble.

Vriska turned back to Sollux, looking disheveled. It was at this moment that Sollux saw the flighty look in her usually stagnant eye. Designer bags were fitted under a murky sky. The look was all too familiar to Sollux. It told the features of someone who hadn’t slept well for days.

She finally spoke. “I’m serious.” She looked out her window to peer at the rearview mirror. “We’re wasting time. It’ll be too late if we don’t move along. I’ve always hated wasting time.”  She turned to Sollux. “Life is a simple journey filled with roadside attractions. These attractions are memories that we hold dearly. They’re futile attempts meant to waste time before death. People want to make their time matter. I don’t think it really matters. We’re all going to die anyway.”

Sollux was left speechless. His vocal chords disappeared once again. He placed his hands onto the steering wheel, shaking elbows, sweaty palms, and all. He was close to breaking out of the truck in a nervous fit, but a mysterious force held him down. It could have been the seatbelt.

Sollux inhaled an icy breath.

Sollux exhaled an icy breath.

His foot inched towards the pedal. He was moving slowly, but it was happening. Vriska’s fingers tapped the dashboard like she was beating a drum. It made a rhythm. _Tap, tap, tap_. There was a moment’s pause before the next set of taps.

When his foot finally made it to the gas pedal, he pressed it hard against his foot. The truck jerked forward. The two passengers were jerked forward as well. Sollux’s seatbelt prevented him from slamming against the steering wheel. The car died suddenly as Sollux’s mind began to focus again.

“God damn it!” Vriska shouted. She pounded the dashboard with her fist.

“Is this supposed to happen often?” Sollux asked. Vriska didn’t answer him. She instead took the key out of its ignition, and inserted it back. The truck slowly rumbled back to life. “Ok, try it again. And _don’t_ give it a wussy tap.” Vriska commanded.

Sollux tried again, but kept his foot on this time. The car began to slowly move forward, foot by foot. About a minute passed, and Sollux made it to the end of the street. His house was back in the distance, nothing but a speck clustered with other specks.

“Now, turn.” Vriska instructed while Sollux sat silently. She tapped her finger onto the wheel. “Go left.”

Sollux nodded. He didn’t have the energy to do any more than that. He turned the wheel to the left, arms turning uncomfortably and awkwardly. He couldn’t understand why they’d begun to feel sore already. The truck moved soundlessly onto the next street. The air still remained eerie. Sollux felt more uneasy by the second. His back hunched over until only Sollux’s eyes were peeking above the steering wheel. Vriska scolded him loudly, however, in a voice that reminded Sollux of his mother. Oh, dearly divorced mother.

They made it to the end of the other street. If any other cars were around, Sollux was sure that he’d get a mob of angry people in top model cars honking their horns behind him.

“Pick up the pace, now.” Vriska continued to speak. “My _grandma_ could drive faster. If she were still able to drive.” She made an odd noise in her throat suddenly. Sollux took a quick glance at her. The fearsome girl’s face actually looked upset. A gentle kind of being upset, a face in mourning. Emotions were pretty hard to convey when you’ve built a tough exterior around yourself. Sollux knew plenty about that.

Sollux pushed the pedal harder, and the car speeded up. It occurred to him at this time that Vriska hadn’t taught him how to stop.

“Yes! Finally! You’re doing this right!” Vriska shouted. Sollux had made it to a normal speed. They were approaching a traffic light, although no one had taught him to stop.

Sollux became frighteningly tense. They had arrived at the top of a hill. Vriska’s enthusiastic shouts didn’t do anything to comfort him. His breath came in faster, and he couldn’t concentrate. A bad feeling. Something stuck in the back of his mind told him something bad was to happen. “Shut up.” Sollux thought. The voice echoed around in his head. “Just shut up.”

The yellow light flickered on the traffic light, which confused him. No other cars were around. No other sounds, other than Vriska’s shouting and the rumble of the truck’s engine.

“Should I slow down?” Sollux wondered outloud, heart beginning to race.

“No! No one’s even here! God, calm down!” Vriska said with a large grin. Sollux couldn’t take the pressure. The traffic stop was only about 50 feet away when he began to lift his foot from the pedal. The car slowed down. Vriska groaned angrily.

Suddenly, a scream.

 A scream so shrill and loud that it caused Sollux to jam his foot onto the gas pedal with an impulse. The car lurched forward, gathering speed at a rate Sollux hadn’t imagined was possible.

Sollux yelped when he heard the scream. His hands reflexively lifted off the steering wheel. The car barreled down the hill’s slope.

“What the hell are you doing?” Vriska shrieked. Sollux couldn’t respond. His communication skills were shut off. He could only receive, not react. The traffic light blinked red. Vriska and Sollux shouted. Vriska reached over to grab the wheel from her seat. Their truck passed the light. Sollux saw another car in the corner of his eye speeding towards them.

It was too fast to describe, Sollux would remark later. A car slammed into them. The truck in which Sollux and Vriska were driving veered sharply to the right as Vriska turned the wheel left. Two tight spins. The truck’s passengers were spun around as well. Sollux felt his head being whipped back. He blacked out.

Glass shattered with a tap. Metal was crumpled like pieces of paper.

Sollux was sure that he died.

_His hand was taken into Aradia’s. She led him forward with a firm, but warm-hearted grip. Sollux could feel his legs slip from under him. The fall yanked his hands form Aradia’s safe clasp. His knees skidded on the ice of the lake. The material of his pants weren’t enough to protect his skin, and Sollux could feel a burning sensation on his knee. He lifted himself into a sitting position, and gathered up the pant leg so he could see the scratch. He inspected it, pinching the skin of his knee and wincing in return. He sighed, the frosty air turning the breath into wisps of air that disappeared almost instantly. The trickle of blood had dropped onto the ice. Sollux looked away at Aradia, who continued to skate on without him. He called out to her, but she kept moving, graceful and lightly. She spun multiple times. The last spin brought a sharp turn, which gave way to a large hair flip. It swished around as gracefully as her body had done. Large, dark drown locks as light as feathers._

_“Aradia!”_

_She finally skidded to a stop. She saw Sollux, and skated over to him. She bent down. She said nothing, as did Sollux. Aradia leaned closer to Sollux. Sollux was confused, but Aradia beckoned for him to pull his knee up. He nodded slowly, and bent his knee forward. Aradia leaned in and kissed it, right on the skin. Sollux and Aradia lifted their heads up. Sollux smiled. Aradia did, too._

_“Do you feel better?” She smiled kindly. Her eyes crinkled with her smile. Sollux began to nod, but Aradia spoke again. “Do you feel anything at all?”_

_“Huh?”_

A sharp pain jabbed Sollux in the eye, and he awoke. The first thing he noticed was the smell of smoke. Sollux’s eyes snapped open. He gasped for breath, since something was leaning on his chest. He saw the airbag, inflated and filthy. His eyes moved onto the next thing.

A bed of hair.

Vriska Serket.

Why was Vriska Serket lying unconscious on his lap with the smell of smoke in the air?

His memory was muddle. He didn’t remember what happened. Sollux wiped his brow with a scratched hand. He brought the hand down so that he could see it. Blood was swabbed onto it. Sollux touched the side of his head once again. Yep, he was 100% certain that he was bleeding.

But why?

Sollux found that the only way to know why was to get out of the car. He opened the car door with the small amount of strength he could muster. It clicked and opened up to reveal a small sliver of the outside world, just wide enough for Sollux to maneuver through.

Sollux weakly stepped out, landing in a bunch of rubble. He lifted himself from the ground slowly, rubbing a scratch on his knee. He questioned the amount of scratches and injuries he received. He felt exhausted, even though he felt exhilarated moments before. It was when his eyes landed on a dull red truck with chipping paint that his blood turned cold. Sollux’s breath caught in his throat, and he couldn’t believe it.

No.

This wasn’t happening.

Sollux stumbled forward, nearly tripping over a pile of glass. His vision began to blue. The colors set out in front of him began to mix and collide onto a messy canvas. He took a step closer. His heart was pounding as he reached the car door. It was completely unhinged from the car, held only by sheer will power and confidence. 

This wasn’t happening.

Sollux kicked with all of his strength. The car door didn’t stand a chance. It crashed onto the ground, crumpled, useless. Smoke was rising from the front of the truck. Sollux suspected that it was the engine. He poked his head into the truck’s front row. His eyes widened, hands gripping the front passenger’s seat tightly.

Aradia was leaned over, her head inches away from Sollux’s fingers. Her eyes were shut, blood seeping through her feathery locks. It crawled with spidery fingers onto the floor.

Sollux didn’t believe it.

No.

He leaned over, and shook her. He couldn’t see her legs; the darkness of the car concealed them. Her breathing was fine, it seemed. Her skin was worriedly pale, but her face showed calmness.

“Aradia.” Sollux said quietly.

She stirred. Sollux reached for the hand that touched the floor of the car. He squeezed it.

Sollux felt Aradia squeeze his hand back. A very light squeeze lasting no more than a second or two. Aradia’s eyes fluttered open.

“Aradia,” Sollux gasped. He saw the pained expression growing on her face. “Are you alright-“ He began to say.

“I don’t think so.” She responded with a soft voice. Sollux felt his soul tremble inside of his body.

“You’ll be fine.” He assured her. “It was a car accident.”

Aradia looked up at Sollux. Her chest rose and fell slowly. Sollux could see the head wound she’d sustained. He couldn’t find a cloth to wipe the blood up, so he unzipped his sweater and placed it to the wound. The blood soaked the sweater, making a deep stain of red spread from its corner.

“This is it.” Aradia spoke again.

“What do you mean?” Sollux asked hurriedly. He used his unoccupied hand to feel his pants for his phone.

“The consequence, Sollux. You know what I mean. I think this is my final punishment.”

“Don’t bring up that bullshit!” Sollux shouted, his voice rose. He didn’t find his phone. He began to panic.

“Sollux, calm down.” Aradia said.

“Bullshit.” He said through gritted teeth. “All of this is bullshit.”

“Denying it won’t help.” Aradia sighed. Her eyes lifted to stare at the ceiling. Sollux could see her give a small smile, to herself.

“You’re fine!” Sollux seethed. Tears were gathering in his eyes. “You just have a bump on your head. It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

“You don’t have your phone.”

“I fucking know that, okay?” Sollux bent down. His head touched the car seat where Aradia’s head lied. “I’m a fucking disgrace.”

“It’s not your fault.” Aradia still stared upwards.

“It is! We both goddamn know it. The world knows it. All of your shitty ghosts know it. Everyone knows it and I’m going to hell.”

There was silence. Aradia’s breathed raggedly. The two didn’t speak. Sollux didn’t want to believe that this was happening. He told himself repeatedly that it wasn’t happening.

But it was. It was happening right now. Aradia was dying. A terribly painful and long death. Sollux didn’t have the guts to end the pain right then and there. He could only stand and play with Aradia’s hair. Aradia sighed occasionally.

Surely, the police would come. They would arrest Sollux, and give Aradia the medical care she needs.

But as the minutes flew by, and Aradia’s breaths came less frequently, Sollux’s sureness dissolved into doubt. It then evolved into desperation. Then, the ultimate despair.

“I’ll come back, when it’s over.” Aradia whispered.

“What?” Sollux asked, though he heard her loud and clear. Aradia closed her eyes. She asked for a kiss.

Sollux shakingly pecked her on the lips. He then kissed her passionately, her lips gliding onto his. Their last kiss. It was sloppy, but death doesn’t ask for fanciful things.

“I love you.” Aradia smiled, at Sollux this time. Her eyes opened peacefully as she squeezed his hand once more.

“I love you, too.” Sollux couldn’t hold in his tears any longer.

“No need to say goodbye. You’ll come back, when I call you.” Aradia’s eyes lit up for the final time. Sollux wiped his eyes. Aradia held her hand with his.

“You have to live, Sollux.”

“What?”

“You have to live.”

Her eyes closed. Sollux held his breath, while Aradia’s breathing stopped. Her soul slipped away. She had finally surrendered into death’s arms.

“Goodbye.” Sollux whispered. He still held her hand. It was still a bit warm. Her kissed her forehead, smudging the blood on it.

A quiet morning death in the suburbs. Hidden in the rubble of a terrible accident, Aradia Megido’s soul drifted away, destined to do great things.  For Sollux, however, the only thing that was destined to happen was the constant ache in his chest for months to come.

He returned to the car, head pounding and arms weak.

Vriska wasn’t there.

 


End file.
